Reciprocal Relationships Between Parenting Behavior and Disruptive Psychopathology from Childhood Through Adolescence

Abstract

Theoretical models suggest that child behaviors influence parenting behaviors, and specifically that unpleasant child behaviors coerce parents to discontinue engaging in appropriate discipline. This study examined reciprocal relationships between parenting behaviors (supervision, communication, involvement, timid discipline and harsh punishment) and child disruptive disorder symptoms (ADHD, ODD and CD) in a clinic-referred sample of 177 boys. Annual measures, including structured clinical interviews, were obtained from the beginning of the study (when boys were between the ages of 7 to 12) to age 17. Specific reciprocal influence was observed; only timid discipline predicted worsening behavior, namely ODD symptoms, and ODD symptoms predicted increases in timid discipline. Greater influence from child behaviors to parenting practices was found: ODD also predicted poorer communication and decreased involvement, and CD predicted poorer supervision. ADHD was neither predictive of, nor predicted by, parenting behaviors. The results are specifically supportive of a coercive process between child behaviors and parenting behaviors, and generally suggestive of greater influence of child behaviors on parenting behaviors than of parenting behaviors on child behaviors.

The Reciprocal Influence of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Parenting Practices in Preschoolers

“…In line with previous research on the relationship between negative parenting and ODD [43], the results of the present study suggest that poor monitoring at a very early age predicts increases in temper tantrums, defiant behavior, refusals to comply with authority, and an inability to auto-regulate emotion. As described in Kochanska et al (2010), the parent-child relationship in the preschool period is crucial to consciousness development in children, since this is when parents establish behavioral models and rules that children internalize with time.…”

The transactional process between the relationships with caregivers and children's externalizing behavior

“…In contrast with previous findings (Burke et al, 2008;Combs-Ronto et al, 2009;Larsson et al, 2008;Meunier et al, 2011;Zadeh et al, 2010), the current results do not provide overall support for the theoretical assumptions of the transactional model. Instead, the results tend to replicate the effect from mothers to children that was found in one previous longitudinal cross-lagged study reviewed in the introductory section Table 3 Intercorrelations between the two constructs QR and EB for parents and teachers.…”

“…In addition to these two-wave studies, longitudinal cross-lagged studies based on three waves of data collection have been helpful in studying both bidirectional and recursive relations. For example, transactional effects were demonstrated in a clinically referred sample of boys (Burke, Pardini, & Loeber, 2008). Annual measures of EB and maternal behavior from age 7-15 to age 17 provided evidence of both mother and child effects.…”

“…Stronger evidence for the transactional process was found in previous studies focusing on caregivers' behavior towards preschoolers rather than on their feelings. In such studies, rather than a speech sample in which feelings about the target child were expressed to a third party, caregiver-child QR was assessed using observation, self-report questionnaires or both (Burke et al, 2008;Combs-Ronto et al, 2009). The validity of this method could be questioned in terms of its capacity to capture the target variable, i.e.…”

Externalizing behavior trajectories: The role of parenting, sibling relationships and child personality

“…Despite general agreement about its conceptualization, there is evidence that the expression and frequency of EPB may change substantially as children develop (Larsson, Viding, Rijsdijk, & Plomin, 2008). In this context, researchers have been strongly encouraged to study EPB from a developmental perspective (Burke, Pardini, & Loeber, 2008). The study of the development of EPB in early childhood is of special interest because rapid behavioral changes are apparent during this period.…”